Top Gear's The Stig sets world speed record... in a dodgem

Iain Lynn

Top Gear's driver The Stig claimed a new Guinness World Record as he managed to drive a restored vintage bumper car to speeds of over 100mph.

The BBC Two programme's "tame racing driver" was tasked with getting behind the wheel of a souped-up 1960s dodgem to celebrate the return of the motoring show.

YouTube star and stunt man Colin Furze restored the small fairground vehicle in the space of three weeks and, with his addition of a 100 horsepower, 600cc Honda motorbike engine, he was able to give it a new lease of life.

The average speed of a dodgem car is around 5mph, but The Stig set a new land-speed world record of 100.3mph thanks to its makeover.

The stunt took place at Bentwaters Airfield in Suffolk last week and was witnessed by Guinness World Records Official Adjudicator Lucia Sinigagliesi, who confirmed his record-breaking feat.

Furze said: "Stig's at his happiest when he's making the slow, fast - so what better way to celebrate the new series of Top Gear than by taking a rusty old bumper car and converting it into the ultimate fairground speed machine?"

The Stig driving a restored vintage bumper car to speeds of over 100mph

Sinigagliesi said: "We're all used to seeing The Stig driving at high speeds - but he's usually in a sports car and usually on a race track.

"To see him hurtle past in a classic bumper car at 100mph was surreal, but hugely impressive. Equally as impressive is the engineering expertise of Colin Furze - the combination of their skills makes for record-breaking fun."

Top Gear continues on Sunday, with the next episode following host Matt LeBlanc's exploits as he becomes the first person to test new supercar the Ford GT.

:: Top Gear airs on Sunday at 8pm on BBC Two. To find out more about the record-breaking bumper car, visit www.topgear.com/dodgem.